


El tiempo todo lo cura

by fereldandoglords



Series: Querencia [4]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Best Friends, Blood Loss, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Crying, F/M, Forbidden Love, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Guilt, Loss, Other, Post-Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:38:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fereldandoglords/pseuds/fereldandoglords
Summary: Snippets from the Ronin's story arc in SR2, exploring Johnny and my Boss's friendship.





	El tiempo todo lo cura

Celeste feels as if her heart is going to burst out of her chest.

 _Not Johnny, too. Not him,_ por favor. _I will do anything. Please, please, please..._

She repeats this prayer over and over again as they are en route to take a very wounded Johnny to the hospital. He is delirious, still calling out for Aisha, repeating over and over that he needs to save her, barely aware of his surroundings.

He is bleeding all over the backseat, staining everything crimson. Celeste is holding his hand so hard. She does not want to let go. She won't. Not until he's safe.

The Saint driving the car is doing the best she can, swerving left and right, trying to get them to the hospital as quick as possible, yelling back words of encouragement to herself and to everyone in the car, reassuring Celeste that Johnny is going to be okay, that they’re going to make it there on time.

Celeste does not allow herself to think otherwise -- they **have** to make it. She cannot lose two of her best friends the same day.

Despite the numerous bullets flying around and the racket, she barely registers all of these sounds. All she can think about is getting to the fucking hospital. She does her best to focus on whispering words of encouragement to Johnny and on keeping him conscious. She holds on tighter, her hand shaking.

She refuses to entertain the idea that Johnny won’t make it. He is Johnny. Her best friend, the person she trusts the most. The person who’s always been there for her and never once faltered in his respect and adoration for her. She would willingly go to the ends of the Earth for him. Their bond was unbreakable. He is going to make it. He has to.

After what it feels like forever, they finally reach Stilwater Memorial Hospital. The Saint that drove them immediately helps Celeste taking Johnny out of the car. Celeste does not let go of his hand until she is sure that Johnny is safe with the doctors.

_Johnny, you’re gonna be fine._

She is covered in blood and on the verge of a panic attack, but she still has work to do. 

Trembling, she calls Pierce. It’s time to find out when Kazuo Akuji is coming into town.

**

Pierce had been right about the Ronin arriving in Stilwater, but there had been no fucking leader of the Ronin with him. 

Celeste was growing restless. She tried to keep herself occupied -- it has been almost a week and Johnny was still at the hospital, barely conscious most of the time due to the amount of painkillers they had him on, they had no idea where Kazuo Akuji was, and that fucker who killed Aisha was still out there. 

Pierce is helping Celeste cleaning out Aisha’s house. Johnny had said that he didn’t want to go back to the place Aisha was killed, and they got to work cleaning out the place. Celeste decided she’d take Johnny and Aisha’s belongings to the Hideout. She didn’t ask him where he wanted to live after he recovers, but he could decide that later. She would help him with whatever he needed.

“Yo, remember this?” 

Celeste puts on Aisha’s iconic baseball cap from her The Other Six album cover with a sad smile.

“You even got the same sort of braids Aisha had at the time,” Pierce remarks, smiling as well. “Looks good.”

“Pierce, you big flirt,” Celeste snorts. She sighs.

“I never expected I’d be doing this,” she admits, tearing up and taking off Aisha’s cap. “I miss her so much, and I can’t even begin to imagine how Johnny’s feeling.”

She knows she is lying the minute she says it. She knows exactly how Johnny is feeling, because she too almost lost the person she loves. She feels a horrid pang of guilt and frowns.

“I know, Boss. I’m sorry,” Pierce nods. “Yo, I’m sorry about what I said about getting a promotion the other day when you told me about Johnny being laid out. That wasn’t cool.”

“Yeah, it was shitty, and you’re lucky you told me that over the phone,” Celeste says, setting down the cap on top of the box she finished sealing a few minutes ago. “But I accept your apology.”

“So are we good?” 

“Yeah,” Celeste says, “we’re good.”

**

The first time Celeste saw Johnny smile after Aisha was when she informed him of Jyunichi’s death, mere hours after it happened, during the afternoon’s visiting hours. 

“So the bastard’s dead?” Johnny asks. 

He is looking better, but Celeste can tell he is growing restless of being cooped up in one place for so long. 

“I cut him up myself,” Celeste says. “How ya doin’?”

“She’s dead, you really gotta ask?” Johnny says, sighing. She understands.

“Funeral?” he asks, realising they hadn’t discussed the subject yet.

“We’re waitin’ for you,” Celeste replies. Johnny touches her hand tenderly in a silent way of thanking her. 

“How long ‘til you’re back?” Celeste asks, squeezing his hand in return.

“The doc said I should be up and murderin’ in a couple of days… well, ya know, he didn’t say murderin’, but you get the idea,” Johnny says.

Celeste doesn’t have time to reply before the lights go out and Ronin are in the building. 

**

“Thanks for doing this, C,” Johnny says. He is in front of Celeste’s mirror in her quarters in in the Hideout. He is adjusting his tie, the final touch before they leave for Aisha’s funeral. All the Saints attending are downstairs, ready to leave for Mourning Woods.

“For what?” Celeste asks, while tying her shoes.

“For takin’ all of my shit here and taking out Jyunichi, for taking my sorry ass to the hospital and saving my life, the list goes on fuckin’ forever,” Johnny says, turning around to face her, “and for being here today.”

“I got you,” Celeste says, echoing the words that he has said to her countless times before, “remember?”

“Yeah,” Johnny smiles, “I do.”

Celeste gets up and adjusts her jacket. She wanted to look nice for Aisha. Her friend always told her she looked good in pantsuits, and she wanted to honor that. A black pantsuit, a white shirt and a purple tie, to honor both Aisha and the Saints colour everyone in the gang sported.

Johnny was wearing something similar, but his suit was pinstriped and his shirt was purple, instead of his tie. 

“Come here,” Johnny says, holding out his hand, “your tie isn’t right…”

Celeste stands in front of Johnny while he adjusts her tie.

“Thank fuck you don’t have your stupid frosted tips anymore,” Celeste snorts, “you’d ruin the whole look we have going on.”

“Shut up,” Johnny laughs, taking a step back and admiring his work, “done.”

“Thanks, man,” Celeste says, taking one final look in the mirror.

It’s time to leave. They leave the Hideout together, in silence, as ready as they’d ever be to face Aisha’s funeral.

They will get through this, just as they’ve gotten through countless other horrible things in the past. But this time, they’d do it together.

They’d always have each other's backs.

**Author's Note:**

> Title translates to "time heals everything."


End file.
